Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Chairperson (CPN-MC) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was elected the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal.

Dahal was the sole claimant to the post of Prime Minister, when he filed his candidacy at the Parliament Secretariat on 2 August 2016.

Dahal was elected Prime Minister with 363 votes in favour and 210 against him. Out of the total 595 members, 22 did not vote. He was backed by the largest party in the House, Nepali Congress, constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front and the Federal Alliance.

Rajya Sabha passed The Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 to introduce the goods and services tax (GST). The passage of this historic GST Bill has now paved the way for the concept of one nation, one tax.

It will enable both the Centre and the States to simultaneously levy the GST, which will subsume all indirect taxes currently levied, including excise duties and service tax. It will be levied on consumption rather than production.

The Bill was introduced and passed in Lok Sabha in May 2015. However, the bill will now go back to the Lok Sabha to incorporate the amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha.

Provisions of the Bill

• The GST will have two components keeping in mind the federal structure of India: the Central GST (CGST) and the State GST (SGST).

• For goods and services that pass through several states, or imports, the Centre will levy another tax, the Integrated GST (IGST).

• Alcohol for human consumption has been kept out of the purview of GST.

• It empowers the centre to impose an additional tax of up to 1% on the inter-state supply of goods for two years or more. This tax will accrue to states from where the supply originates.

• Initially, GST will not apply to (a) petroleum crude, (b) high speed diesel, (c) motor spirit (petrol), (d) natural gas and (e) aviation turbine fuel. The GST Council will decide when GST will be levied on them.

• Tobacco and tobacco products will be subject to GST. The centre may also impose excise duty on tobacco.

• Parliament may provide for compensation to states for revenue losses arising out of the implementation of GST for up to 5 years, based on the recommendations of the GST Council.

Central Taxes replaced by GST Bill

• Central Excise Duty

• Additional Duties of Excise and Customs

• Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD)

• Service Tax

• Cesses and Surcharges on Supply of goods and services

State Taxes Subsumed in the GST Bill

• VAT

• Central Sales Tax

• Purchase Tax

• Luxury Tax

• Entry Tax

• Entertainment Tax

• Taxes on advertisements, lotteries, betting, gambling

• State Cesses and Surcharges

GST Council

The GST Council will consist of (a) the Union Finance Minister (as Chairman), (b) the Union Minister of State in charge of Revenue or Finance and (c) the Minister in charge of Finance or Taxation or any other Minister nominated by each state government.

All decisions of the GST Council will be made by three fourth majority of the votes cast; the centre shall have one-third of the votes cast, and the states together shall have two-third of the votes cast.

It will make recommendations on taxes; goods and services; threshold limit of turnover for application of GST; rates of GST; principles of levy; special provisions with respect to the eight north eastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Background The Bill required a special majority for its passage as it is a Constitution Amendment Bill (that is at least 50% majority of the total membership in the House, and 2/3rds majority of all members present and voting).

Thus, the Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha with 203 votes in favour and none against.

The upgradation of medical colleges under PMSSY broadly involves strengthening of the existing departments as well as building Super Speciality Blocks / Trauma Centres or other necessary facilities as Centres of Excellence etc.

Highlights of the Project

• The upgradation will be done at a cost of 200 crore rupees for each GMCI with Central share of 120 crore rupees and State Share of 80 crore rupees.

• Accordingly, the total upgradation cost shall be 2600 crore rupees out of which Central Share will be 1560 crore rupees and that of State will be 1040 crore rupees.

• It will be completed in time period of 36 months.

• Upgradation of existing GMCIs will create tertiary care facilities that will serve as composite centres for continued professional education, treatment, patient care and multi skilling of health workers.

• The facilities to be augmented during upgradation will be decided after proper gap analysis involving all stakeholders.

List of GMCIs to be upgraded

S.No.

Government Medical Colleges/Institutes

State

1

PMCH, Patna

Bihar

2

GMC Bhagalpur

3

GMC Gaya

4

GMC Bilaspur

Chhattisgarh

5

GMC, Jagdalpur

6

UCMS-GTB Hospital

Delhi

7

GMC, Surat

Gujarat

8

GMC, Bhavnagar

9

GMC, Indore

Madhya Pradesh

10

GMC, Cuttack

Odisha

11

GMC, Jaipur

Rajasthan

12

GMC Agra

Uttar Pradesh

13

GMC Kanpur

About Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)

• The Central Scheme PMSSY was announced in August 2003 with the primary objective of correcting the imbalances in availability of affordable tertiary level healthcare in the country in general.

• This scheme had two components (a) establishment of new AIIMS and (b) Upgradation of existing government medical colleges.

• Under PMSSY, 58 Government Medical Colleges have been approved for upgradation. Of these, work has been completed in 16 colleges while it is in progress at other places.

UNITED WORLD WRESTLING CLEARS NAME OF NARSINGH YADAV FOR RIO OLYMPICS

United World Wrestling (UWW) cleared wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s name for participation in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He will be participating in the 74kg weight category of the sport.

Reports say fate of the 26-year-old grappler still lies in the hands of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which will take decision whether he is eligible to take part in the Olympic.

After studying the case, WADA may appeal against a decision of Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel or Appeals Panel of any of its member countries to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) within 21 days. CAS is specifically constituted to render decisions quickly during the Olympics.

If WADA appeals against the decision of the disciplinary panel at the ad hoc division of the CAS than Narsingh may have to wait some more days to know his fate regarding his participation in the Rio Games.

Background

Earlier after receiving clearance from NADA, the Wrestling Federation of India wrote to UWW to reconsider Yadav’s name in 74kg category.

National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on 1 August 2016 had exonerated Narsingh Yadav from any violation of anti- dope norms.

SAARC IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES MEETING HELD IN ISLAMABAD

The seventh meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Immigration Authorities was held in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The meeting aimed at formulating recommendations to be presented in the meetings of Home Secretaries and Interior Ministers meetings.

Key highlights of the meeting

• It reviewed different areas to maximize the potential of visa exemption scheme launched among the member countries in 1992.

• It also planned on development of security software for SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and immigration matters.

• SVES will help in transforming the existing manual system of the scheme into an online visa application system.

• It will have a central database that will provide all member states with real-time and secure information.

About SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme

• The SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme was launched in 1992.

• During the Fourth Summit held in Islamabad in 1988, the leaders decided that certain categories of dignitaries should be entitled to a Special Travel document, which would exempt them from visas within the region.

• As directed by the Summit, the Council of Ministers regularly kept under review the list of entitled categories.

• Currently, the list included 24 categories of entitled persons, which include Dignitaries, Judges of higher courts, Parliamentarians, Senior Officials, Businessmen, Journalists, Sportsmen and so on.

• The Visa Stickers are issued by the respective Member States to the entitled categories of that particular country.

• The validity of the Visa Sticker is generally for one year.

• The implementation is reviewed regularly by the Immigration Authorities of SAARC Member States.